^{photo: Facebook page of Ediye Muslimova}

For a day and a half, Russian special services held Crimean Tatar journalist Ediye Muslimova without sleep and without communication. On November 21, the editor-in-chief of the children's magazine 'Armanchik' was grabbed by the FSB officers near her home and taken to an unknown destination. The woman was released only the next day at night, when she recorded a video message. The 61-year-old Crimean Tatar said that she had not slept for 35 hours, but now she is fine. According to Muslimova, it also became known that the occupiers had received some “signals” about the journalist and that is why they decided to “check” her.

Ediye Muslimova confirmed to CEMAAT that the “signals” meant denunciations, the practice of which has only gained momentum in Crimea since February 2022. Moreover, several people wrote denunciations against the publisher of the children's magazine, but the security forces did not tell her who exactly, Muslimova said.  

Not only the occupation authorities of Crimea, but also the so-called 'volunteers' encourage denunciation for anti-Russian stance or insufficient support of "SVO" (special military operation). Among them is the well-known collaborator Alexander Talipov, who created the infamous "Crimean Smersh" telegram channel specifically for such purposes. The result is thousands of denunciations of pro-Ukrainian residents of the peninsula, their public apologies for Ukrainian songs, the yellow and blue flag on their avatars, or simply anti-war statements on social media.

Often, apologies do not save them, and in occupation courts, all this is explained by a new article of the criminal code - “discrediting the Russian army” - against pro-Ukrainian citizens. According to the independent human rights organization "OVD-Info", the occupied Crimea is among the three leaders among the regions of the Russian Federation in terms of the number of open cases under the article “discrediting the Russian army”.

Based on denunciations from unknown people, the FSB was also looking for a Ukrainian trace in Ediye Muslimova's case. According to the Graty newspaper, the journalist's niece, Elzara, received a phone call from an unknown man who introduced himself as a police officer the day after the abduction.

The security official tried to find out from her relative information about Ediye's crossing of the “border” with Ukraine:

“The man called and asked if my aunt had crossed the territory of Ukraine and for what purpose. I answered that I did not know. He asked if she had any problems with law enforcement. I also answered in the negative. He said that 'everything is clear' and said goodbye,” Elzara Muslimova said, according to the Graty media outlet.

Як стало відомо згодом, аби надати юридичний захист Едіє Муслімовій, адвокатка Еміне Авамілєва взяла на себе повноваження захисниці, однак її навіть не впустили до будівлі ФСБ.

“Thank you for your support. No force was used against me. The investigation took a long time. There were a lot of questions about my work and my magazine. For a long time, I proved that with 1485 subscribers, we are still somehow holding on. This is a reason to subscribe and support Armanchyk... God forbid someone should get there. It's unpleasant,” Ediye Muslimova says in her video she posted on Facebook.

Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Cemilev called Muslimova's abduction another case of intimidation of Crimean Tatars and Russia's attempt to take control of Crimean Tatar children in order to influence them ideologically. The Crimean leader also claims that one of the motives for the kidnapping of the editor-in-chief of Armanchik was her refusal to place Putin's portrait on the cover of the children's magazine.  

The head of the Mejlis Refat Chubarov, in turn, warned that this situation could signal the beginning of the Russian occupiers' reprisals against every Crimean Tatar involved in national education.

The Permanent Mission of the President of Ukraine in Crimea called on the international community to take concrete measures to protect journalists in Crimea:

“Pressure on independent journalists and civil society is absolutely unacceptable in the modern world. This case is not an isolated incident, but part of a systemic policy of persecution of those who have their own position and the courage to express it. We call on all democratic countries, international organizations and human rights structures to take concrete measures to protect journalists and activists who remain at the forefront of the struggle for freedom of speech and human rights in Crimea.”

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